St.
John Paul II, passed away on 2 April, 2005, Vatican
City, aged 84. He was beatified on 1 May 2011; canonized 27 April 27 2014; and
has his feast day on 22 October, a date chosen to remember the anniversary of
the liturgical inauguration of his Papacy in 1978.
Of
Polish nationality, and born, Karol Józef Wojtyła, he
was the third longest serving pope and the first non-Italian for 455 years he
held office from 1978 to his death in 2005. As part of his effort to promote greater understanding
between nations and between religions, he undertook numerous trips abroad, traveling far greater
distances than had all other popes combined, and he extended his influence beyond the church by
campaigning against political oppression and criticizing the materialism of the
West. He also issued several unprecedented apologies to groups that
historically had been wronged by Catholics, most notably Jews and Muslims. His
unabashed Polish nationalism and his emphasis on nonviolent political activism
aided the Solidarity movement in communist Poland in the 1980s and
ultimately contributed to the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
More generally, John Paul used his influence among Catholics and
throughout the world to advance the recognition of human dignity and to deter
the use of violence. His
centralized style of church governance, however, dismayed some members of the clergy, who found
it autocratic and stifling. He failed to reverse an overall decline in the
numbers of priests and nuns, and his traditional interpretations of church
teachings on personal and sexual morality alienated some segments of the laity.
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